For those who built a house, was it cheaper than buying a pre-built one?

[ReloTH]

Number of reasons to take either avenue but when it simply comes down to the dollar & cents (well THB) all costs considered for those that took the building route - what % do you think you saved (or not) from building ?

 

 

[Hummin]

All depending where, quality, materials chosen, comparing to gathered community or not. 

 

Freestand on your own land, can be as much as 2/3 cheaper but you need to be present 24/7 and understand consruction and materials. 

 

It was a night mare but in the end worth it

 

 

[KhunLA]

Yes, much cheaper & much better quality build.  Though you do need to pay attention as they build.

[Hummin]

25 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Yes, much cheaper & much better quality build.  Though you do need to pay attention as they build.

And have people on the construction site 24/7, if not they will rob it.

 

If you get a package price, the company lives on the property and are responsible themselves.

 

Common mistakes, what you see on pictures is often not what you get, so make sure you understand every detail of the contract.

 

Know one who was getting a package house, and thought he got kitchen, bathroom, electricity, and all the piping for 1,2 million, but nope. 

 

So many details you will struggle with. 

 

We bought everything ourself, had controll of quality, prices and paid the crew by day, still a nightmare.

 

If you using a company with foreigner who is responsible, and who have good reputation, you will pay the price additionally for his expertise and experience. Still there can be misunderstandings 

 

We built dirt cheap, but so far so good

[newnative]

     It was cheaper building it ourselves but, as others have said, you need to be hands-on, even when you have hired someone, as we did, to do the actual build and be in charge of the construction.   You need to be on hand to check the work, catch mistakes, and make sure you are getting what you have planned for.  The big plus, for us, was getting a house custom built for our wants, needs, and tastes. 

    Many pre-built homes these days have lots of built-in furniture, including beds, bedside tables, tv cabinets, etc.  The bedrooms can end up looking like dorm rooms and the other rooms rather cookie-cutter.  Also, lots of real or fake granite and marble splashed on the walls, huge, gaudy chandeliers, and so on.   Not our taste.  We have lots of art, some of it quite large, and antique Asian furniture to fit in, so many of the pre-built houses with mostly built-in furniture just don't work for us, as we'd have to tear out a lot we didn't like or want, unless we got in early on a build.  

[rumak]

Here come the photos...............

 

 

[KhunLA]

Reading OP again ...

 

... savings, at least 50%, as everything we looked at, was ฿2+M range, not including our solar system, which was ฿450k.

 

House is only ~130m² on 100 tw lot,  1/4 rai = 400m² (20m X 20m lot).   Semi rural, and lot only cost ฿76k (10 yrs ago), and now would be ฿500k.  House 2.5 yrs old.   I wouldn't sell it for less the ฿3M.

 

Buy as much land as you can, as that is what will appreciate in the future.   The building itself, don't expect much of a return, if any.   Two previous house builds appreciated nicely, all because of the land they sat on, not the building.

[mikebike]

As others have said. 50% or more for buying turn key rather than building on your own land.

[KhunLA]

We contracted a builder to build it.  Contract had 'allotments' broken down for roof, tile, cabinets, fixtures (toilet & sinks), painting, doors & windows, all based on blueprint.

 

Block & concrete/cement was all fixed price, and just told her which type of block to use.  Sparky & plumbing was also fixed.

 

We actually shopped for and ordered the roofing material (BluScope rolled steel), fixtures and picked out all the tiles.  Along with cabinets.  Her pricing was very good, and we weren't far off at all.

 

Used a different sliding doors & window crew, than hers, after viewing her previous builds, and didn't care for her subcontractors materials that they used.

 

Some things we picked out were cheaper, and just moved the balance over to things we picked that were more expensive.  Actually balanced out pretty good, very surprisingly.

[Crossy]

Design and build it yourself and get exactly what you want (mostly) 🙂 

 

Crikey, did we really start in 2011? 

 

We are still friends with k. Dusit and his son. They re-built our failing retaining wall (they didn't build the original).

 

 

 

 

[quake]

Pre built, you don't get much choice where to live.

Buy land for wife /company,  build where you want and how you want. 

[ReloTH]

OP here much appreciate everyone sharing your experiences!

 

Reading through the replies perhaps I should have added, with all you learnt through the experience, in hindsight would you recommend it given the THB savings and the freedom to build the design you want?

[G Rex]

Having built 2 houses here - my main piece of advice is choose your builder wisely!

Our first house, 5 years ago, 1.7Mill Baht for a 4 bedroom 190m2 house.  Not premium, but no problems with this one.

Our current house - 5+ Mill Baht for 3 bedroom 2 living area 2 storey house - about 230m2 living area.  With this build, we had to watch our builder (who came highly recommended!) like a hawk. He was constantly looking for ways to shaft us. Cheaper materials, poor building practices etc - but we called him out on most things, and made him rectify issues.  Less than 3 months after moving into our house - he was ghosting us! Not a great issue - as we didn't want him working for us anyway! - and in the next 18 months we have spent another 1.5mill repairing/replacing/rectifying his faults!   When we built our separate gym/pool room/motorbike house - we contracted our builder from our first house - have had no problems with this.

 

Don't expect to 'make' money from a house in LOS. Our first house is still sitting empty after 2 years. Thai are not keen on buying second hand houses. Too many Ghosts!! LOL